Daily Drill: Sanders Burns Pipeline and OSHA’s Greatest Hits

Feel the Burn: Sanders and Four other Senators ask Obama to Halt Dakota Pipeline

The request comes in the wake of a Federal court's decision to set aside the regional Sioux tribe's request for an injunction. At issue are Federally held lands, yet to be built on, that the region's Native Americans consider sacred. Sanders and the other senators are asking for complete stoppage pending the results of a thorough environmental review. This is shaping up to be a test case.

Builders Fined for Construction Fraud Had Help from…Victims?

In a curiously twisting saga of construction fraud and deception, five NY builders were forced to pay $825K in fines for avoiding state-mandated Minority and Women Owned Businesses (M/WBEs) in the construction of a school in Rochester, New York. Interestingly, the minority and women-owned businesses themselves actually took part in the scheme, falsifying documentation and providing cover. In exchange for pretending to work on the project, the minority and women-owned businesses received a hefty kickback. Take me through the bewildering details.

Denver Runs Past NY, L.A. and Chicago In Hotel Boom

If you need to book a hotel room in Denver these days, you're in luck. The Mile High City just had a banner year building hotel rooms at a rate that leaves the Big Three in her shade, for once. Denver's taking of the "biggest year-over-year jump in new hotel room construction" prize proves that business travelers and tourists can be coaxed away from the Urban Superstar destinations if the red-carpet amenities and experience are just so. Please see to my luggage, I'm checking in.

Guard Rails, face masks, low-slope fall protection; OSHA has spelled out the 10 most frequently cited safety violations and presents them here with a stern "how many times do we have to go over this?" expression. Falling continues to plague the construction sector, and remains the leading cause of death on the jobsite. In a related bit of news, OSHA has come under fire for its recent decision to formally prohibit post-accident drug and alcohol testing, which the safety organization says was a privacy violation. Harness on, check.

August Slowing of UK Construction Unrelated to Brexit, Statisticians Claim

Following a hopeful rise of .5% in July, UK construction dropped 1.5% in August, wiping out July's gains and surprising industry watchers. ONS, the UK's office of national statistics, publicly said the drop in production was tied to infrastructure orders and was not connected to England's recent controversial decision to exit the European Union. But isn't infrastructure tied to new building?

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